[Ammi]

Originally Posted by Soldier Boy

I agree Ammi I'm leaning heavily toward this not being a "gender politics" issue but a much more complicated situation involving a potential intersex condition. With that being the case, I actually would generally consider it to be legitimate for her to compete in women's sports generally; it's a rare example, and she is not and has never been male, which makes it very different to someone who has chosen to transition. I would not, for example, take issue with her competing in a running event, or any other non contact event, even if she was totally dominating that event.

BUT...

My caveat here would be, in physical contact sport and especially combat sport the primary consideration should always be safety... and if there's found to be a disproportionate strength advantage (that is, a level of strength that would not normally be achievable by others fighting in the same category without hormonal/chemical enhancement) then I think it's ultimately fair to say that unfortunately they can't safely and fairly fight in that category.

The regulator's balance always should skew to what's safe over and above what's fair, if we're being sensible. That's the case in all areas IMO.

…I do think this is sadly another time when we’ve seen ‘the worst of the internet/social media’ in discussions of her genitalia etc…and in her country also, I imagine so many things are not discussed publicly in any way…but on the ‘athlete’ side, which is what I personally want to focus on…I’m not sure whether her more elevated levels of testosterone would be comparable in any way to someone who had taken performance enhanced drugs…but safety has to be ensured in a ‘fair fight’…none of this is her fault and it hasn’t helped, I don’t think…that there seems to have been some inconsistencies in the past in terms of her competing…such a mess all round, really…